I first encountered lobby cards from this series several years ago in the collection of DefeatedandGifted, and I assumed they were Australian, partly because that’s where she was, and because they used the American form of the logo which was used on the Australian movie poster while listing EMI as the distributor. The movie posters also, however, have a logo for another distributor, either GD or GL Film Distributors, which is absent from the lobby cards.

Well, what should turn up as part of a massive sale of British lobby cards, but an apparently complete set of them. And although I suppose they could still really be Australian, the seller assured me that they were indeed from the UK. So, since other than the distributor being EMI, these cards replicate the design of the American publicity materials, and since there’s also a set of UK lobby cards that does use the logo used on the rest of the UK publicity materials, I conclude that these are a first set of cards made for the British market before the British publicity designs had been finalized. Maybe they’d originally been created for the USA, and then repurposed when someone realized that lobby cards weren’t really a thing in America anymore.

So, the UK had two separate set of Times Square lobby cards. Or, these really are Australian. Either way, this series of cards was definitely the source for the posters printed in Yugoslavia some months later.

They’re not numbered, of course; I’m presenting them in more or less the order they would have appeared in the movie.

Kathy Lojac as Nurse Joan introducing Nicky and Pammy made its debut here, and appeared with Pammy mostly cropped out on a Yugoslavian lobby card poster.

Nicky and Pammy walking along 42nd Street is from the deleted scene of the girls looking for and finding Nicky’s dad. There were plenty of stills shot during the filming of this but the entire sequence, along with the scene of them dyeing each other’s hair by the banks of the Hudson River, was cut and replaced with the brief moment of them on the subway. (The part where they find Nicky’s dad may not even have been filmed — there’s only photographic evidence of their walk to Times Square.) This photo appeared in the “Robert Stigwood Presents Times Square” folder, and in the other set of UK lobby cards, and as one of the German lobby cards.

Nicky cutting Pammy’s wrist for the blood sisters ritual was reprinted from here on the same Yugoslavian lobby card poster as the hospital photo, they only other place either of them appeared. The moment before this, Nicky cutting her own wrist, was shot from a different angle that showed the boom microphone and printed, mic and all, in the center spread of the Japanese souvenir program book. In the film, we don’t actually see the knife touch Pammy’s wrist, and we see Nicky’s wrist cut only in close-up.

And that is the solution to the mystery of where exactly the images on the Yugoslavian posters came from, as they’ve been obviously cut and pasted together with the ZF logo pasted into them. We’ll see it in more detail in the next few posts. Meanwhile, here are the individual images from the poster, separated as if they were actual lobby cards, which they were not.

Another four “lobby cards”, printed together on one poster, having been cut together and reprinted from an earlier series of lobby cards that I didn’t have when I found these. Unlike the first one, I think we’ve seen all these images previously, but, I’ll have more to say about them later. That will make sense then, I promise. Or, I hope.

Here are the individual “cards”, from when I separated them before realizing that they were never intended to be separated.

I originally thought that these were uncut sheets of lobby cards intended to be separated into individual items, but after digitally doing exactly that I’ve come to the conclusion that, no, they were intended to be displayed just as they are. First, there’s not enough interior border area to cut them apart evenly, unless you trim them all the way down to the image on all four sides. Second, these sheets are exactly the same size and printed on the same poster paper as the Yugoslavian lobby poster (which itself is made up of two lobby card images), although made to be shown in landscape orientation rather than portrait. And third, shortly after I acquired these I saw a second set of them, also in poster form, so I’m guessing that these Yugoslavian lobby cards were never cut apart.

This is the first time many of these particular images have been published here, but they’re not making their first appearances as Times Square publicity items. It may not be visible in the digitized images but a close examination of the posters shows quite clearly that they’ve been cut together from another set of lobby cards, with the Tajms Skver insets pasted in on top. This is why the overall printing job leaves something to be desired — these are essentially color photocopies of items originally distributed months before… but which so far are the very last Times Square publicity materials I’ve found. I’ll start posting those in a month or two, meanwhile here are the individual images from this lobby card poster, that I’d made before I realized they weren’t meant to be displayed individually.

The main Yugoslavian poster used the art from the U.K. poster which was used throughout Europe. But Zeta Film also produced at least four more promotional pieces, which I believe to have been made for display in theater lobbies, based on their size and artwork.

This poster is smaller than a standard one-sheet, and reproduces photos previously used as U.K. lobby cards, top and bottom, although the reproduction leaves much to be desired.

I think it’s astounding that this much effort was put into promoting Times Square in Yugoslavia. I wonder if the film itself had been dubbed in Serbian or Bosnian.

The next German press photo from Schröder-Filmverleih had previously seen publication in Filmstar Vol. 1 No. 3, in Thailand. The Filmstar version shows less of the image at the left, and more of Nicky’s hand on the right, so there must have been a more complete version at some point. It’s from the Cleo Club performance of “Damn Dog”, and so must have been taken at the same time as this slide, UK publicity still #21, and this color 8×10 print, although it must have been a little later… this is the only still from that scene after she’s put down her guitar.

I’ve also just noticed that there’s a little number “22” inset at the bottom edge. This must be a reprint of #22 from the UK series, which I do not have at the moment. I wonder if the others are also reprinted from the UK series, with the number either invisible or cropped out.

And here, from May 1982, is the last piece of promotional material produced for Times Square’s theatrical run.* Do I need to say anything about it at this point? This photo of Robin was the single most-used photo, thanks to its use on the movie poster and soundtrack album cover, beating out the shot of Trini only because Nicky quickly became the face of the film.

As with the other two German photos, there were captions pasted to the backs of these.

Nicky Marotta (ROBIN JOHNSON) as a rock lady. Will it only be a dream for the rebellious Nicky? The movie “Times Square – Eff Alla Youse” describes the escape of two teenagers from a psychiatric hospital. The two turn New York upside down. They are supported by Johnny LaGuardia (TIM CURRY), the most popular disc jockey in the city.

That’s the snotty, rebellious and defiant Nicky Marotta (ROBIN JOHNSON). She is 15, on her own, and dreams of becoming a rock star. Their adventures are portrayed in the thrilling music film “Times Square – go pound sand”, which starts in Germany on May 21st. Another starring role is superstar Tim Curry.

I first posted a version of that last photo about four and a half years ago, in my ninth post here, as our first look at Robin as Nicky (although that specific print actually comes from the 1980-81 series of stills from the UK). It’s only fitting that it also be our last look, as we bid farewell to Times Square, and consign it to poorly-mastered Betamax tapes and cutout record bins .

… but wait, there’s more! I tried to post all this stuff in chronological order, but that proved impossible, because “new” stuff kept turning up. That means I found a few things in only the past few weeks (as I type this), and we’re going to be looking at pictures from Times Square for a little while yet.

Schröder-Filmverleih, Times Square’s German distributor, put out a handful of black-and-white press photos to promote the movie along with the poster and lobby card set. They aren’t printed all that well, appearing to be copies of copies, which is a shame because most of them are images that never appeared anywhere else.

The first one here is Pammy and Nicky bursting through the doors that somehow lead to an alley accessible by fire escape from the Adonis Theater. It must have been taken at about the same time as this color shot, and like that shot, doesn’t match up to the action in the film. To my eye, the girls are in the same spot relative to the doorway in both photos, so I hypothesize that this was taken during a second run-through, as they tried to internalize the direction to look more frightened and less happy. In the take used for the movie, Robin practically falls through the doorway, and Trini is not smiling. (More details of the peculiar architecture of 50th St. & 8th Ave.)

This second one, Mr. Pearl attacking Johnny, would appear to have been taken just before or just after TS-78-2/16 from the American Press Material folder. Why did Germany use this ever-so-slightly different photo? Your guess is as good as mine.

These black and white 8 x 10’s came complete with ready-to-use captions in German on the back.

Two teenagers Nicky (ROBIN JOHNSON, right) and Pamela (TRINI ALVARADO) are on the run in “Times Square – you can all kiss our asses”. The two girls become true heroes for their peers. An amazing film with the hits of recent years and the great Tim Curry as cunning disc jockey Johnny LaGuardia.

Ambitious politician David Pearl (PETER COFFIELD) storms furiously at disc jockey Johnny LaGuardia (TIM CURRY). Pearl thinks the disc jockey knows where his runaway daughter is. A highlight of the movie “Times Square – you can all screw off”. The craziest film ever made about New York teenagers.

Someone has corrected by hand the printed misspelling of Johnny’s last name as “LaGuardian.”

April 16, 1949 – August 16, 2018

Justina Johnson graduated Syracuse University with a BA in History and Library Science. Since 1979 she’d worked as a computer programmer. She was Robin Johnson’s aunt, her father’s little sister. Only 15 years older than Robin, their early relationship was often more like sisters than aunt-niece. Babysitting duties often included trips to see the Yankees play.

I am Robin Johnson’s aunt. She has not done any acting since some LA
theater and she keeps a fairly low profile.
However, I am about to send her a birthday message since she turns 45
this upcoming Friday … that same day she was born.
Just for fun this year, I am included a picture of the May 29th, 1965
cover from LIFE.
Have they ever re-released the sound track for Times Square on CD?

Ten years ago, that message appeared on the Yahoo! group I was running, which is how things worked before Facebook. It was greeted with slightly less skepticism than if someone had posted claiming to be Robin, but JJ soon proved her authenticity and became a central part of the little community of Robin fans. She was, in her words, “tickled” that there were so many people online celebrating her niece’s acting career and keeping its memory alive.

She answered what questions she could while keeping in mind her niece’s desire for privacy, and enjoyed hearing the few things we knew that she didn’t, or that she hadn’t thought anyone but the family knew. At some point she volunteered to call Robin and ask her a few questions on our behalf. I have the feeling her contact with her family had been sporadic at best at that point, because this eventually became a weekly call between her and Robin, and the occasional call between her and Robin’s mother; purely family chats, nothing to do with us fans; and she several times over the years thanked me profusely for helping her reconnect with her relatives. During the time I knew her, she made at least two long trips to visit Robin and her sister and mother. Not the kind of behavior you’d expect from a hermit, but I got the feeling it hadn’t happened before.

For a time she acted as a go-between and gatekeeper between the fans and Robin. She was the one who delivered the birthday cards we sent to Robin, the first of which brought Robin nearly to tears, she reported. She forwarded the printouts of Facebook messages to Robin, by mail, and forwarded Robin’s handwritten replies to me, and I typed them up and posted them to her page… until Robin again decided interacting with her past was too much. JJ kept the door open, occasionally asking me if I had any questions for Robin, but I wanted to wait for the right moment, for an important question.

For some strange reason one year, we decided to get together and do something she’d never done: go see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. It was supposed to be a big get-together of all the NYC-area fans, but circumstances and scheduling conflicts left it just her and me. Reading JJ’s online words, she projected the image of a delicate little old lady, but she wasn’t: she was taller than me, cheerful, vital, funny, apparently very outgoing… very unlike the quite proper, sometimes befuddled persona she seemed in text. We met up in Bryant Park, near the library, braved the crowds to the tree, then found a cheap diner and chatted for a few hours. I regret that neither of us thought to take a selfie, but they weren’t really a “thing” yet.

We parted with tentative plans to do it again, when the weather got nicer, and try to involve all the folks who’d dropped out this time. Over the next few years we’d mention those plans occasionally, but, sadly, never actually made them.

She’d “like” and comment on things I posted to Facebook, mostly Robin-related, some not. She did the same with other Robin fans who’d become her friends, mostly the crew from the old Yahoo! group. I know she had other non-Robin related online friends as well: old friends from real life, new friends for whom she proofread and critiqued fiction. She liked the tv series Supergirl, and in particular loved the relationship between the characters Alex Danvers and Maggie Sawyer. Nobody ever shipped a couple as hard as JJ shipped Alex and Maggie. I never had to follow any Supergirl groups, because JJ’s likes and comments popped everything Supergirl-related to the top of my newsfeed. When Alex and Maggie broke up, I think it broke JJ’s heart in a very real way.

JJ often referred to herself as “something of a hermit.” When we first met online, she had just started a blog devoted to her grand re-entrance into the community. But she never posted to it — I think getting involved with the fan community devoted to her niece replaced whatever struggle she had planned for herself. But it wasn’t unusual for any one of us not to hear from her for extended lengths of time. Every so often, I’d shoot her an email asking how she was doing, and she’d reply that she was fine, she was touched that I was thinking of her, and did I have any questions for Robin?

That was the nature of our last interaction, last June.

This year, when she didn’t respond to any of the messages posted to her Facebook page wishing her a happy 70th birthday, I grew concerned. When she didn’t answer an email, I posted a general inquiry; apparently she hadn’t been in touch with any of us for nearly a year. My attempts to find a more direct way to contact her led me to a memorial page on the Harrison Funeral Home website, and the knowledge that she’d died.

Last August.

I feel hurt, and betrayed by the universe that not only did it take my friend, but it hid that fact from me for months. Even worse, the memorial page was entirely bare. I was compelled to post a condolence. At the moment it’s there alone. I submitted a story/remembrance, but it hasn’t gone through yet, and I don’t expect it to. I sent an inquiry to the funeral home asking for a few details — how she died, where was she buried — but I haven’t received a response and again don’t expect to. I’m not family, I’m just some guy claiming to be her friend.

Other than that page, and a similar detail-free name-and-date-only obituary on some local online news service, there’s nothing to commemorate her passing. That’s not fair. She was important, more than she could ever bring herself to believe, and doesn’t deserve to be forgotten.

She was a huge part of the reason I redid this site to try to post all the Robin stuff I’ve collected. She was fiercely proud of Robin and rejoiced in the knowledge that Robin had such devoted fans and continued to make new ones.

I feel like the wind’s been taken out of my sails as far as continuing to post stuff here. But if I know two things, they’re that 1) Robin wouldn’t care one way or the other if this site were to disappear, but 2) JJ would absotivley posolutely demand that I keep going.

So I will. I may take a mighty big break once I run out of Times Square material, but I’ll be back.